1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a batting aid to assist a batter in maintaining proper eye contact with a pitched ball and more particularly, to an improved batting aid that will force the batter to keep his eye on the ball by limiting him from turning his head in an undesirable way from the ball.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well recognized in the game of baseball that it is very important for the player to make eye contact from the time the ball is thrown by the pitcher until the ball is in the zone or area where the batter swings to make contact with the ball. The usual tendency is for the batter to turn his head away from the ball as it is thrown, thereby losing eye contact with the ball. This often results in the batter not making bat contact with the ball when he swings the bat. A prior art device for maintaining eye-on-ball contact during a swing is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,765. In this patent, there is disclosed a batting aid comprising a shoulder piece connected to a jaw piece, located between the batter's chin and shoulder. The relative pressure exerted by the device is used to tell the batter if his head and shoulder are in the relative proper position. There is, however, no means for maintaining a fixed relative position between the batter's shoulder and head. Another prior art patent is U.S. Pat. No. 3,697,065, which illustrates a training aid for a runner, including the use of straps located over the shoulder and around the chest to maintain a plate in position. Other prior art patents are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,059,932, and 3,346,257, which illustrate the expedient of using flexible straps to hold training devices in position on an individual's body.
These prior art devices suffer from various deficiencies which are not present in this invention. For example, they do not provide a batting aid which maintains a relative fixed position between the batter's shoulder and head, which allows the batter to achieve eye-on-ball contact until contact is made with the ball during the swinging of the bat. The present invention provides a simple and inexpensive device which aids substantially in achieving this desirable object.